Half of you, Half of me
by SilverMoonPhantom
Summary: Danny wakes up and finds the world has filled with Quirks. This world of Villians and Heroes doesn't really sit right with him. What's a halfa to do?
1. Chapter 1

**NEW HERO SPOTTED! "PHANTOM" A GHOST IN THE RECORDS**

The latest records of the superhero license registry is turning up no information on the hero "Phantom" after he rescued 13 people from the burning apartments on Skygrove Lane last week. City officials have issued a formal announcement to Phantom, asking him to turn himself in for proper licensing and registry.  
"He seems to have his heart in the right place," said Mayor Jimothy Ley, "but we have these rules for a reason. If he continues to act as a vigilante, our Heroes will be asked to treat him as a criminal." As you may know, using your Quirk without authorization, and interfering with Hero or Police business both have steep penalties. If anyone knows the identity or location of "Phantom," please contact-'

* * *

Danny sighed, poking at his new phone and watching the gentle touches close the news application, opening up the weather to see if he'd need to find shelter that night.

The novelty of such a functional touchscreen still hadn't worn off. A hundred years of sleep, and suddenly walong up to a world full of Heroes and Villains, and what seemed like outdated views of good and Evil... It was really strange. Touch screens couldn't even begin to reach the levels of weirs he was dealing with right now.

He wondered for several days in this world, if he'd made a mistake in closing the stable portals. He couldn't find any news about ghosts invading earth again, but… this whole Hero thing reeked of ghostly intervention. Too much black and white wish fulfillment.

Really, it had to be ghostly, seeing as his ghost sense hadn't stopped itching since he pulled himself through the rough portal he opened up. The casual display of powers from various people had thrown him for a loop, but the dessicated look that the Ghost Zone had sported and the familiar buzz of ectoplasm in every breath in the Japanese city was clueing him in that things had…. not stayed entirely separate after he went to sleep. A few jumps back and forth had confirmed the Zone had... really broken down.

Familiar islands had had nearly complete dissolved, doors to lairs almost entirely absent. The ones he had found opened to nowhere, or to empty dens. The creep factor drove him back to the real world, despite the equally strange feeling of doing double-take every time he turned around. Physical mutations were, apparently, now quite common.

It was easy enough to throw himself into hero business, doing odd jobs on the side with the help of his own powers under the guise of a helpful "quirk." Earned enough money to buy a phone from a resale shop (marveling at the advanced tech at such an affordable price), hooking up to free wifi to browse the net for more information.

Still, for every news article he found, it seemed to make three more questions pop up, about how this had all changed so quickly. His ghost form hadn't been recognized, but when a hero asked his name he was quick to say 'phantom,' for fear of another inviso-bill incident.

Thank god it caught on, despite their nagging to license himself.

No thanks. He'd read enough Marvel back in the day to Avoid that civil war-ish bucket of worms

He'd been awake for all of three days, when the siren that called for hero intervention started making him perk up reflexively. It was nearby, this time, and it only took a breath to find a hidden spot to transform and blaze toward the smoke rising up a few blocks over.

Flames splashed across the front of a bank, sprinklers doing their best against a bright blaze. Glass shattered outward, and Danny yelped as what looked like a dragon barreled past him, duffle bags slung over her scaley shoulders,  
The long neck turned, jaws opening as a bright gush of flame sprayed in his direction,  
Danny ducked under it, easily keeping up with the heavy wingbeat to plunge his fist up into the creature's gut.  
A breathy "grrk" whuffed out of the long snout, wings stuttering. Danny blinked, fist still held up in empty air while the dragonish woman flailed, plummeting downward.

She was still falling.

Oh shit.

Danny dove, channeling his inner perigrine falcon to plunge into the dragon woman's body, halting them before the ground and slipping out of her body again.  
Scales clicked and shifted as the woman fell back against the pavement, wings splayed awkwardly as she thrashed, mouth gaping and rasping as she tried to get her breath back.

"Shoot, I'm so sorry, try to take deep breaths. Slowly, slowly.. you got it, there we go."  
The yellow eyes stopped rolling so frantically, closing as the woman started sucking in hungry breaths past sharp fangs.

"Soooo, yeah. Didn't mean to hit you that hard. What's your name?"  
The ridged throat twitched as she swallowed, words lisping past a long tongue.  
"My name is Emily."

Danny fought the urge to laugh at such a plain name for such a colorful body. Between the long tail, scales, spikes, and clawed hands and feet, he expected something like 'Draca' or 'kal'zanath'  
"Right, Emily, We're you seriously trying to rob a bank in the middle of the day?"

He jumped when Emily suddenly thrashed again, phasing through the tail that whipped through his chest.  
At least it wasn't his head.

"Dude, chill. I'm sure being evil can wait like, five minutes while I tie you up properly,"  
"Fuck off, brat. Like someone with your Quirk could understand."  
Danny felt like he'd stepped on a mine, so blindsided by the abrupt change of mood. The resigned frustration had flipped to rage faster than he could blink. Danny flicked his wrists, sidestepping the gout of flame as Emily crashed to the street again, wings and hands tied by sticky ectoplasm.  
"What wouldn't I understand?"  
"Damn your Quirks! Your stupid attitude! You think your 'hero' status gives you the right to pass judgement, but you're nothing but narcissistic bullies" She snarled, spitting flame impotently as her tail thrashed like a furious cat.

Danny scratched the back of his head, honestly a little surprised other heroes hadn't converged on their location yet. His suspicion that the ecto-contaminated people could sense each other was slowly dying. It was also becoming apparent with each new person he encountered that he… really didn't understand the social dynamics at work here, wasn't it obvious that someone robbing a bank was doing something wrong? He'd met criminals who were mad that they had been caught, but the self righteousness was new.

"Okay. I can see you're really passionate about this, but I'm not really getting it. Could you explain it to me like I'm a five-year-old who never heard of Quirks? Or Heroes?" Newspapers and Wikipedia didn't seem to be doing the trick. Maybe a person's opinion piece would help?  
Emily stared at him, ferocious spiked eyebrows pulled into a bewildered look.  
"You're not going to just turn me in?"  
Danny shrugged a shoulder. "Humor me for a second."  
Emily cleared her throat, glancing down at the glowing, writhing green blobs around her wrists in consideration. She sighed, sitting upright and criss-crossing her bound legs.  
"Alright, so." She began, scaled features still drawn into a speculative expression. Did the kid really not know?  
"It all started back in China, with a baby born that could emit light…"

The woman explained how the world's governments feared excessive retaliation if they used the newly powerful individuals in an attack, so they quickly tried to invite people to use their Quirks to fight crime - to become Heroes.  
"That doesn't explain why you'd use them for evil." Danny interrupted, receiving a sharp glare in return.  
"Is it evil to want to make money for my brother? Careless 'Heroes' caught him in the crossfire, and our insurance only barely covers his wheelchair and pain medication. I can't support both of us off a factory job, and no employer would hire a 'monsterous' quirk, since I'm not even allowed to use this without a license." She snorted a small lick of flame, rattling her leathery wings.

Danny crossed his arms, frowning at the heated glare from the dragonish lady, ignoring the smoke trickling from her snout.  
"How do you get a license?"  
"You can't," a tiny gout of flame licked between her teeth, "unless you want to use it for crime fighting. Hero agencies pay the popular heroes, and gather sidekicks and equipment manufacturers from hero-schools. A real circus. They even have Marketing budgets." She flashed her teeth in a sneer, but closed her mouth again when Danny sat down in front of her, scratching his cheek and muttering at the ground. The bindings around her wrists dissipated into green smoke.  
"That's stupid. Crime fighting is dangerous, and shouldn't be handed over to inexperienced people just because they have power. People get hurt. People are selfish. Untrained people make mistakes and try to show off, or get a big ego, or decide they want to take over the world or some bogus thing."

She rubbed her wrists, considering him. "No kidding."  
"And you said the whole world is like this?"  
"Pretty much."  
Emily watched the kid lean back, gusting a big sigh into the sky, his own breath billowing like cold steam.  
"Man, this blows. Instead of flying cars, we get superhero drama."  
Emily huffed in agreement, leaning back to stare up at the sky. Her claws rasped against scales as she scratched the side of her neck, a little surprised that she hadn't been turned in already.

"Well, can't help you with the flying cars, but if you don't want to go home, I'd be happy to have a partner in this."  
She waved his hand at the small pile of duffle bags, expecting the disapproving look she received.  
"Or not~ that's fine too."

Danny shook his head. The ghost zone wasn't going to last much longer. The ectoplasm was slowly, steadily leaching into the real world. This whole place reeked of its miasma, and it was only to be expected that everyone and their mother was infused with enough to manifest powers. Enough to be born looking like a monster. Long term exposure could do a lot to a person, after all. He couldn't stop thinking of the people here - how much it would suck if he wasn't allowed to use any of his powers. Even back when he first got them, refusing to use any one of them for too long would itch like crazy. Turning to crime, even just to be able to flex those 'muscles' had become attractive several times before he shut down the portals.

"Would you say most 'villians' were like you?"  
"Humph. No way. There are some real nut cases out there, convinced they're superior or some shit. But…." Emily eyed the kid, wondering why he hadn't already known all of this. Had he been living under a rock or something?  
"...why do you ask?"

Danny continued to tap his finger against his lips, looking down at the ground. It was... probably his fault that things had gotten this bad. Maybe he hadn't closed the portal well enough. Maybe his constant back and forth with it, ages ago, had weakened the barrier between their dimensions. Either way, he had a world full of ghostly people who were getting the shaft, as far as "fairness" went.

The itchy part of his core - the little voice that always urged him (protect! Protect!) was starting to grumble. Put on a pedestal or seen as a freak - neither were attractive options.

"Purely hypothetically, since you've probably thought about this. How do you think this problem could be solved?"

Emily flexed her wings, rolling muscular shoulders. She answered so quickly that his assumption was proven right - she clearly had thought about this question before.

"The Heroes think they're 'Justice' despite doing the most damage of all of us. Anything to stop 'evil'" she growled the word out, scales rippling in frustration. "But… if we had a way to use our powers - if we had a way to be useful, and not be a burden - to support our families and be proud of who we are, I think that would solve a lot of problems."

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, huh?"

Emily just nodded, tucking her wings close. After being so thoroughly and quickly trounced by the glowing teen, she wasn't sure what all to expect. This kind of interrogation was far removed from the ancient presence that had enveloped her mind. She certainly didn't expect a green eye turned toward him, tiny fangs gleaming in a mischievous smile.

"Would you be interested in trying to create that Utopia?"


	2. Chapter 2

Danny Really _Really_ did not intend for this to become a Thing.

He expected Emily to laugh at him, maybe shake her head and fly off, since he wasn't terribly invested in keeping her contained any longer. He did not expect her to hold his gaze and nod solemnly, saying something profound that he really wished he could remember. Honestly, he was too shocked and absently trying to act like he knew what was going on to pay close attention.

One thing led to another, she had called some friends at her old job, and a few hours later he was opening a portal and holding the edge open to invite several people with various types of rather distinctive physical quirks.

They had told him they were called "mutation type" quirks, which really didn't sit right with him. (The X-Men vibes got a lot stronger, for one thing) and those quirks tended to get a lot of shit for causing distress. As if they could will themselves to not look scary.

"Right, so, here we are." He couldn't help but fiddle with his phone, tapping it absently against his thigh. "My chunk of the Ghost Zone. Pretty plain, but we could use it as a home base for now if you want. There's no solid portal, I'm not sure if I want to make one just yet."

The woman who looked like her limbs had been made of rubber and stretched out, slowly raised one spindly arm.

"Emily said… you wanted to… make a utopia?"

They all stared at him expectantly, and he scratched the back of his head. The more he thought about it - the more these people looked expectantly to him, the more the weird little ghost of a plan started to blossom in the back of his head.

He nodded. "More like, I want to make a place where people can have their...quirks, and live in peace." His tongue stumbled over the word, but Emily's chuckle seemed to smooth things over.

"So, basically a paradise."

She stepped into the swirling green portal without any further hesitation, and the other three followed behind shortly afterward. He glided in behind them, remembering at the last minute to spread a blanket of ice below them to stand on.

They didn't seem terribly alarmed to be floating in a massive, open space of green mist and liquid swirls twisting without gravity to guide it.

"I don't really have anywhere in the real world to set up a meeting spot, so I figured this could do for no- oh, okay. Bye, I guess."

He watched Emily flap up into the void, her powerful wings sending her swooping easily away. A wave of his hand, and he'd summoned enough ectoplasm from the surroundings to form several benches for them all, crossing his own legs and perching on the edge of one.

"How much of that can you do?"

Danny glanced up at the young man's question, the glowing lines of lava just under his charred skin flowing slowly.

"Do what?"

"Create things from thin air, like that."

"Oh."

Danny looked down, pulling the ectoplasm into a dense sphere and giving it a little toss. The quiet woman with knots of thorns growing in a halo from her head kept glancing down at her watch.

"As much as I want, I guess? It's my Lair, after all." He ducked a little as the woosh of wings heralded Emily's arrival, her teeth flashing in high, delighted laughs.

"This place is fucking huge!" she crowed, spreading her wings and flapping excitedly. "I couldn't even reach an edge! Your Quirks are ridiculous!" Danny yelped as the spiked arm tugged his head against her side, claws ruffling up his white hair into a mess. He squirmed, finally slipping intangible to slide out of her roughhousing.

"Seriously, my space isn't that big, I just haven't put up any walls." He tried combing his hair back into place with his fingers, but the locks seemed determined to stay free-floating in the low gravity.

The lava man spoke up again, tapping his foot on the hard ice that was acting like a floor.

"How long can you sustain this? It seems… too good to be true."

Danny dodged another noogie attempt, floating up and remembering belatedly that her wings meant he couldn't actually get out of reach. Still, Emily seemed to have gotten the hint, and had started a slow circle of the area, examining the liquid ectoplasm and denser patches of fog.

"It's pretty permanent if I want it to be. You won't go floating away, so don't worry about that. I just don't hang out here very often." Well, now that he was properly awake, anyway. The real world seemed infinately more interesting than this empty chunk of space. The thorny haired woman's fidgeting was starting to get distracting.

"Hey… you okay?" She tensed, looking away.

"You're going to let us out, right?" He blinked, cocking his head to the side.

"Of course."

"I have to go, soon. It's my daughter's first day of school, and I don't want to miss it."

"Oh! Of course! Just a second, I'll open up a portal."

From this side, it looked more like a door appearing than the original swirl of green, the familiar caution stripes and hexagonal structure forming purely from memory, rather than any sort of default. It just seemed right to him, to have that sort of door.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

The woman offered him a strained smile, boots squeaking a little on the ice as she passed him.

"It's Holly. Hey, Emily, let me know if this goes anywhere."

"You got it!" The words were accompanied by a flicked of flame sparking and spreading briefly through one of the thick ectoplasmic clouds. Danny missed the exact moment Holly left through the doors, a bit distracted by the eerie sight of the stretched-out lady stretching _even more_ , legs and arms becoming like stilts. Something about her spindly shadow cutting through the ambient glow and fog just creeped him out. Emily darted over, and the two of them started whispering about something.

"Sorry, Lava guy, you were trying to say something. I got a bit distracted." his teeth flashed in an apologetic grin, and the glowing orange eyes blinked slowly back.

"Why did you bring us here?"

"Right, um - Weirdly optimistic 'Utopia' plan. I was thinking we could meet here to discuss it, or use it as an in-between place to jump to a new location. Maybe like, get an island somehow? Convince a local government to host us... Or… "

Crap. He was losing steam fast. As he said it aloud, the less reasonable it seemed.

The lava guy hummed, a low rumble pulling up from his chest that sounded more like rocks grinding together than any human sound.

"What if you just… made it here?"

"...eh?"

"The 'Utopia'" he rasped, "Why not create it _here_?"

Danny paused, glancing around doubtfully. The Ghost Zone still seemed eerie to him, even after spending years exploring its depths. Without the innumerable ghosts filling up its twisting spaces, it felt even more lonely and ugly, even if his core whispered that he was meant to be here.. But… the people out there, they were already partially ghosts, right? Didn't they also belong here?

He licked his lips, opening his hand.

A small green stone fell into his palm, oblong and shiny, just as he imagined.

His fingers curled around it.

Maybe.

Maybe this could work.


	3. Chapter 3

A shift had started.

Whispers spread quickly, private messages passed in text and online forums. Rumors bloomed to life, about a paradise of Quirks, where you were free and encouraged to use your powers. A few fuzzy pictures were taken, of green columns and crystal arches twined with glowing flowers. Not many knew where the pictures came from, or who first spread the word, but they did know one thing.

"Phantom" was the key to get in.

The only problem?

No one knew who he was, or how to reach him.

He was practically a ghost, appearing at random. Sometimes when a hero alarm went up, sometimes just found talking to someone. Every time, it involved someone with a Quirk.

All Might found himself following the new vigilante very closely, always interested in seeing the latest updates. He seemed like he had his heart in the right place - all the people left behind, when asked what he had talked to them about, only ever said;

"He asked if I was happy, living as I was." The people who said they were happy, usually stuck around. The ones who admitted they weren't, often vanished.

It was gearing up to be quite the fascinating mystery. He looked forward to a day when he could meet the boy.

Between heroic activities and a quickly growing curiosity from the public, Phantom was seen speaking to various Villains - even going so far as to sneak into one of their prisons. This, of course, did not go over very well, but every camera angle and search of the man's cell revealed he really did only wish to talk.

That man went missing only a few days later, his cell left empty, cameras only seeing him vanish into thin air.

Of course Phantom was blamed.

Public opinion, the nebulous and ever-changing monster that it was, quickly shifted to call him a Villian. He was linked to several other suspected Villians vanishing, and the disappearance o civilians as well.

Anyone with an obvious or unusual Quirk could become a target.

All Might had several theories about this strange behavior, but no idea where all these people were being relocated to. There were too many to just hide away in a warehouse somewhere, and some began theorizing that he was doing the worst.

After several months, the vanishing slowed, then stopped. No one had been able to stop him for more than a few moments, his powers apparently perfect for fast evasion. Intangibility, invisibility, flight… and on top of that, no record of his existence anywhere they could find.

He truly was a ghost.

All Might had set the issue to the side, preoccupied with teaching, and the slow ache of his powers transferring to Izuku. Juggling his hero duties and his obligation to his students wore on him more and more every day, each new strain pulling at the twisted scar that bit into his side. .

He suspected the mysterious Phantom had vanished for good, when the Principal, of all people, alerted him to a change in plans.

Eraser head and he were to assign substitute teachers for the day.

By the time All Might got to the police station, the officers were already sweating bullets, hands twitching toward their guns. He heard muttered mentions of ghosts, and the sick feeling of being watched.

Toshinori took a breath, brightening his smile as he strode into the station as his heroic self.

"Do not worry!" he proclaimed. "Why? Because I am here!"

It was always satisfying to see the _trust_ ripple across a room, the strained postures relaxing to a more alert, less panicked stance.

"They're in the interrogation room, Sir. Second door on the right, down this hall."

"Thank you!"

His internal clock was already ticking down, three hours seeming like such a short amount of time when you had to factor in travel. Two hours left, that he could use this form.

When he opened the door, he had expected his friend's presence in one of the corners, goggles affixed over his eyes. Clearly, ready to use his powers of Quirk negation.

An officer nervously filled out paperwork on a clipboard, staying well away from the metal table where, presumably, a young suspect sat.

He didn't recognize the amused blue eyes, or the distinctively swooped black hair.

"What are you, a Captain America ripoff?"

All Might couldn't help but laugh at the snark, not quite understanding the reference, but inferring its meaning from the words used. From the tiny smile lifting the corner of the boy's mouth, the hero figured he couldn't be troublesome enough to warrant two of the highest ranked professional heroes to chaperone.

"I am no Captain America, my boy!" He pointed a thumb at himself, resting a fist on his hip. "I am All Might!"

The boy chuckled, resting his chin on his palms.

"Nice to meet you, All Might. Sorry for making them drag you out from wherever you were. I didn't think I was that big a deal when I turned myself in."

Toshinori took a seat, his bulk filling up the tiny chair, but the boy didn't even blink.

"Quite honorable, to turn yourself in, if you know you've done something wrong."

The boy hummed, tilting his head toward the masked man in the corner. All Might could see Aizawa's shoulders tense, the wrappings around his shoulders hovering like snakes ready to strike.

"Ehhh, I don't think I've done anything wrong, but it was the easiest way to get the attention of U.A. I just asked for one of their teachers to be sent over."

"Oh?"

"The internet has been vague about how one gets certified for using their Quirks for the public's good, aside from beating people up. Hero school was one option. I figured you'd know the other options better than I."

All Might hummed, leaning back in his chair and resting his hand on his chin.

"If you have a remarkable Quirk, becoming a hero would be a good opportunity to-" "I don't care about becoming a Hero. I just want to be able to use my Quirk without being put in jail. I want to help people. Is that possible for me?"

The green eyes were intense as they stared him down, after the interruption, brows flinching minutely as he blinked, blue eyes opening again. All Might noted the change in color, and presumed Eraserhead must have suppressed his Quirk again.

To his knowledge, Hero training was the only way to be certified to use your Quirk. For the good of humanity, pushing back evil.

However.

"I do not know of any way to become Quirk certified, outside of hero training." He admitted. "But I'd be happy to look for a way, if your intentions truly are pure." All Might shifted, opening his mouth to start prose on vigilance and the power of youth and determination, when the kid cut him off again.

"Cool. You got a cell phone or something? I'd love to stick around, but I've got places to be."

"... You're in police custody, my boy."

"Yeah, I know. I turned myself in, remember."

The man pulled out his phone, red case gleaming as he poked it to enter a new contact. The boy rattled off his number, and All Might advised him to call the school, if he needed to get ahold of any of the teachers. He'd be in, most weekdays. Try to call on the hour, for a better chance of not interrupting class.

He endured a baleful green stare (how long had it been? Surely, Eraserhead's 'cancel' hadn't failed yet?) and twitched as the boy sighed, standing up through the table and letting the shackles fall off his wrists with a loud clang. One of the officers shouted, a taser prong passing harmlessly through his chest as he backpedaled lazily.

"Anyway, it was nice meeting you. Name's Danny, by the way." He gave a jaunty wave, even as Eraserhead's tendrils snapped through him in a useless attempt to capture.

"But, I suppose you can call me 'Phantom'"

The boy sank backward through the wall, and All Might was left sitting blankly at the table, eyebrows nearly meeting his hairline as the sound of chaos echoed even through the thick walls.


	4. Chapter 4

After the hectic meeting at the Police station, and the rapid response of various heroes sweeping the area to try to find the mysterious 'Phantom,' to no avail, All Might and Eraserhead went back to school to endure the pestering questions of their students.

He never did get that call, and while Toshinori did consider sending a text when the news started reporting Phantom sightings again, he refrained. Something about the sharp green eyes told him that, though the teen was quick to laugh, he was not interested in wasting time. The choice to attract police attention instead of calling and waiting for an answer said as much. It had shaken the metaphorical tree.

It had gotten attention.

* * *

Toru Hagakure had always been invisible.

Now, this wasn't a metaphor - light truly passed through her without reflecting, and only the clothes she wore could show where she was to others. Mirrors didn't reflect her. Cameras didn't even pick up a distortion.

It was certainly useful for stealth, as embarrassing as it was to strip down naked and creep around. Even as a baby, her parents said, they had to be careful to keep a LED gently glued to her skin to make sure they didn't lose her.

It's where her love of shopping and clothes ultimately came from. When no one could see your face, hand movements and body language needed to be able to express as much as possible. She had to let them see her movements somehow!

But… she'd never really been invisible to herself.

When she looked down, she could see her own hands. Pale, translucent things they may be, but they were her hands. She may not be able to see her reflection, but she could see her own legs and feet, and if she crossed her eyes she could see the tip of her nose!

So…. she definitely existed!

She was just a little hard to see, if you weren't her.

It felt like her classmates had finally warmed up to her, when she met her first fellow invisible person.

He strolled in behind a gen ed teacher, dressed like a civilian. He stayed seated beside the teacher's desk, and Toru let herself stare unabashedly. It's not like anyone could see where her face was pointed.

But… he did!

Somehow, without help, he turned away from their History teacher and looked her straight in the eye. Not just at the area over her uniform collar, or generally where her voice came from, but right in the eye.

She couldn't help the sharp little inhale, quickly looking back to the board. Toru suddenly understood why people insisted on eye contact so much. It felt… really personal.

When she glanced up again, the young man was scribbling something on a sheet of paper. He held it up with a grin.

"Just a little test. You passed! Let's give your classmates a chance to win their own score"

She felt her eyes widen in realization. An infiltration test! Of course! She grinned, nodding partially in agreement, and partially delighted to be the first to pass.

The teen stood carefully from his chair, and Toru watched his translucent form pass slowly down the isle, passing her by millimeters . Since she was paying attention. She could hear the faint squeak of rubber on tile, the rustle of his clothes, could feel the faint brush of air movement as he passed.

She carefully looked around, biting her lip to stop the delighted giggles from erupting. He circled the classroom twice, going between each row and changing a tiny thing at each desk. Stealing a pencil. Carefully setting some paper shreds on top of someone's hair, typing something into a calculator left on the desk. She watched the results with an eager sort of fascination, amazed that such little changes could create such big results.

Unrest started spreading across the classrooms, small upsets turning into small glares, accusations and unhappy thoughts clearly spreading under breaths and between rows. No one suspected an invisible mischief maker, even when one was already in the room.

The teen slouched back into his chair after half a period of bothering them, holding up another bit of invisible paper after scribbling "meet me outside during break?" And watching her nod agreement.

She had to hold back snickers several times throughout the lesson as he yawned and cracked silent jokes, miming certain events as the teacher explained them. Several times, she heard the scuff of his shoe, or the slap of his palm against the tile floor, but no one seemed terribly interested, still grumbling at each other over falsified slights.

He did seem to take pause during several points at the lesson, listening in. Toru was sure to take notes during those parts, assuming it was a hint for a future test.

And just like that, third period was over, and the teacher was leaving with a small wave.

She almost forgot, her friends turning to chat with her, but the teen's quick gesture to the door had her squeak "bathroom!" And jump up to follow.

He led her to a window alcove just next to the classroom, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So, yeah, sorry about all that. I kinda expected someone to actually stop me."

Toru laughed, waving her gloved hands.

"Don't worry about it! I'm sure once you turn in the report, the teachers will tell them to pay more attention. Nice choice coming in during History - a lot of people zone out, then."

He looked like he was about to say something, but shook his head.

"What's your name, by the way? I'm Danny."

She beamed, shaking his translucent hand.

"Toru Hagakure! You should come back some time, that was super fun."

He laughed, nodding.

"Oh, I probably will." A small hesitation, "hey, are you…. always invisible? Can you turn it off?"

"Ah, no, I mean, yes. I am always like this. Never seen a picture of myself, but it's okay" She opened her palms and shrugged while he tapped a finger against his lips.

"Toru, would you want to see a picture of yourself?"

She blushed fiercely, hands whipping up to slap against her face in embarrassment, less from the offer and more from it coming with the use of her name like that, all while his blue eyes seemed to stare into her soul.

"That would be… ha, that would be really cool, if the technology existed."

"Hold on a second, lemme see your phone."

She dug around for it, before handing it over. He found the camera and held it up, and Toru sighed. She'd tried that a million ti-

It felt like ice water had crawled across her limbs, tingling and burning and cutting deep. She gasped sharply, eyes wide when she heard the digital click of her camera.

The icy feeling faded, and he handed back her phone.

"I'll see you later, Toru. Nice meeting you!"

Danny left her clutching her phone as the bell for fourth period rang, his shoes scuffing quietly on the tile as he jogged invisibly away.

Her own pale, translucent fingers opened up her phone, charms bumping gently against her knuckles.

There, in the gallery, was her.

Freckles splashed across her nose and round cheeks like constellations, teeth a little crooked in the front. The butterfly charm was nestled in dark, straight hair instead of floating against a brick background.

Toru sank to the ground, heart pounding.

"Oh my god." She whispered.

"I'm totally cute."


	5. Chapter 5

Really, he was a little disappointed it didn't take more effort to bypass security. He was stopped from walking in the front entrance by automatic doors, and an energy field of some sort blocked an aerial dive in, but it was practically effortless to slide intangible through the ground, coming up several yards inside the walled off campus.  
After that, it was just a matter of finding the right sort of classroom. Freshman History sounded about right, but after the run-in with the easily flustered invisible girl, Danny decided to head to the library instead. Surely, there was something about the Quirk laws, right?

While waiting for his new library card to print (though not as entertaining as entering a video game, the minor technological aptitude was nice for getting reluctant machines to behave, and pretend he really did have a proper database entry) Danny idly outlined how he got in on a scrap bit of paper, pointing out the underground security flaw, and adding a couple PAC-Man ghosts around various hallways for the hell of it.

Card in pocket, Danny checked out a couple law books, awkwardly juggling the small stack as he used the self-scanner, giving a cheerful wave to the young man at the front desk when they made eye contact. He used his library card, the machine beeped green, and the boy ignored him.  
Just another stranger who belonged.

He propped the books open on his lap out on the grassy space outside, stretching his legs out and hunching over so his shadow reduced the white page's glare. Birds flew unfettered by the high walls around them, rapidly chirping messages back and forth. Tall buildings sat, elegantly perched between stretches of grass and sidewalks like a cluster of dominos carefully placed apart with the fear in mind of eventually toppling. The wind rushed past in the rustling slide of a great beast sighing across the earth, casting leaves and litter up into the sky with each enormous exhale.

Danny did discover the Quirk ban was a Japanese thing, which was better than random internet searches had yielded. Several other countries limited Quirk use as well, but plenty of countries offered licensure or certification if you could prove you had adequate control over your power to be useful.  
Some countries only certified for a certain type of job, while others certified the Quirk itself. Either way, the general consensus worldwide despite the growing population and shifting statistics was that the Quirk users were others.  
Their powers needed to be registered, contained, tracked in some cases. Small scale conflicts had broken out in South America and Europe, between neighboring countries with wildly different Quirk registration laws - citizens being arrested for not having their paperwork, or fleeing across the border for more freedom.  
He ended up paging to the back for more examples, but a title caught his attention.

Healed to Death: A Good Samaritan Interferes

The summary described an accident. Newly certified for Hero status, a woman tried to heal several people who had been caught in a falling bridge. Their wounds healed, but the energy it took to fix their bodies ultimately killed three, and placed the other in a coma for several months before recovery. Footnotes said she eventually helped found several Hero schools, and revolutionized the way Heros were tested.  
Still, the hypocrisy didn't go unnoticed by the writer. If she had done nothing, they would have lived until the emergency services arrived. Her interference killed them.  
But, according to the lawsuit, her Hero status gave more weight for the judge to consider her 'trying to act in the public's best interest' - the "Good Samaritan" defense that set the precedent for using your quirks on other people, as long as your intentions were good.

Danny shifted, too many memories of his own immature behavior reminding him that being gifted with power did not imply responsibility. Or maturity.  
Somewhere in the distance, a bell rang. Several more began shrilly jangling, and the quiet roar of mass footsteps began. Danny checked the sun, and found the shadows to be sharp and shallow.

Oh. Lunch bell.

He considered tucking his books away, but the breath of cold from his ghost sense and his own natural curiosity got the best of him. He'd gotten some of his answers, and he could keep the books checked out for another week. It'd be good to learn.  
Danny watched the roiling crowd, pretended to be one of them, sitting out in the grass and enjoying the nice weather.  
It was interesting to see so many quirks on display, many being used casually - they treated it like another arm, or a sense. Something completely familiar and natural. Nothing at all like the tight, stiff way he'd seen civilians hold themselves outside.  
He exhaled a warm, satisfied breath at the sight. Railroaded into this strange 'Hero' system or not, they were still encouraged to use their powers.  
Encouraged to satisfy the itch of -this is my purpose, my being, my self - that the general public seemed to crave; always one excuse away from using their power, just so they could relieve that pressure.  
What some people let build up until resentment and need crystallized into hate and anger, or despair.  
The frustration of knowing your purpose, and being denied it.

Was it any surprise people here were driven to become 'Villians'? To embrace the darker side of themselves, simply because that part said 'this is unfair'.

A small group of girls passed close by, and he offered a lazy smile when the glanced toward him. They departed with a flurry of whispers, and Danny stood up, brushing his pants off and gathering the books. He belatedly realized his lack of a school uniform would stick out like a sore thumb, and began his own stroll toward the walls.

Rubbing his thumb against the side of one of the books, a thought occurred to him, and he pulled out his phone to type,  
::Do you know any healers?::  
Emily probably wouldn't respond for a long time, not being the type to carry her phone on her 24/7, but that was fine. No rush.

Danny paused in mid-step, turning and setting his foot down as the quick scuff of a shoe on cement alerted him to an incoming person.  
The invisible girl trotted to a halt, an apple clutched in one hand. He was a little impressed that she hadn't been panting, and offered a little wave.

"Had a good day in class so far?" He asked, shifting the books to be more comfortable in his arms.  
"Yes! Thank you, I just- that's all I wanted to say. Thank you. For, um, the picture. I really appreciate it. If you don't mind terribly, could you, I mean, if you're not busy-"  
"I'm not in a hurry." He interrupted, lifting his books a little. "Just dropping these off at home."

Toru fidgeted, scraping her nails against the skin of the apple and pressing it to her mouth without actually biting. He wondered if it was a nervous reflex.  
"Oh! Good, that's good. I, um- my parents have never seen a picture of me either, and I was wondering if- the first picture was good! I was just surprised, so…"

Danny looked around a quick moment, setting the books down on some clean grass and opening his hand for the phone again.  
"Alright, I'm going to need to touch some part of you for this to work. I can't change visibility over a distance." He'd managed intangibility before, but invisibility never seemed to want to travel.  
"That's fine!" She quickly stepped in a little, and he held his palm open for her to gingerly poke. He watched color bleed up her skin, and let her throw up a peace sign with her free hand, still holding the apple.

Danny snapped a couple, absently wondering what kind of problems would arise if one was invisible all the time. He switched the phone to video.  
"Alright, I'm in video mode if you wanna say something."  
"What, really? Good idea!" She waved happily, grinning widely. "Hey mom and dad, its me! I found somebody who can turn me visible for a while." She glanced at him, and he wiggles his fingers.  
"It's super temporary, so I'll be back to normal when I get home, but it's still super cool! I have freckles!"  
He let her take the phone from him, sighing a little when she turned it to video them both selfie-style.  
"This is Danny! He's super nice."  
"Yo." He held up his free hand for the video, absentmindedly looking around as Toru continued to talk about random things, mostly just delighted to be able to see herself.  
"What!? I have a cavity!? What the heck!"  
She pulled her hand away and abruptly snapped the video shut, but he could tell from the hunch of her shoulders and the silvery blush on her cheeks that she was embarrassed by being caught examining her own teeth.

"It was nice meeting you again."  
She bowed and echoed the sentiment, taking the excuse to flee, calling another 'thanks' over her shoulder.  
Danny watched her run for a few moments, when a shrill tone started pulsing across the grounds.

"Intruder Alarm. Please Proceed to the nearest safety route. Do not engage. Intruder alarm-"

Oops.

Danny flickered invisible, scooping up his books and diving through the ground, trusting his sense of direction for quite a while before popping up again, well free of the academy's grounds.

Well that was fun.  
If they closed that safety gap, he'd have to find another way to return the books he borrowed.  
How'd they figure it out, anyway?

In the principal's office, a nervous librarian's aid sat shakily describing what he had seen. On the desk sat the rough blueprints of a quiet infiltration success, and a copy of a library card with no ID.

A bomb squad had already been called, to investigate the areas marked by ghosts, and the Support branch had been tasked with checking the claims of an underground security flaw.


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't often that he dreamed of his old life. He wasn't sure if he was happy or sad to have them, as they always seemed to pour a mixture of moulten, burning longing, and a cold, crystallizing resignation.

Before everything.  
Before the years of wandering the ghost zone. Before he had learned to create a Lair, and long before he'd learned how to open his own portals, Danny lived as a human.  
He knew himself as a human, just as a bird knows it's a bird. Perhaps not with words, or by looking in a mirror and contemplating one's place in the universe, but with the same self determining acknowledgement that comes with all living creatures.

Simply; I am.

He had stepped into new technology as a 14 year old boy, and stepped out of it with a plethora of developing abilities that mirrored those of the dimension that portal was trying to reach. Had succeeded in reaching.  
The beings on the other side were just as curious about the new portal - excited to have a stable passage, and eager to stake a claim at its entrance.

Danny spent much of his high school life fending them off, pushing them back into their own world at the cost of his own time and energy. For a while there, things had gotten a bit muddled in his memory - there was something with a wish, and an artifact that could change the world on a whim. Clockwork created several timelines somewhere in there to explore the possible repercussions of choices, and Danny never quite figured out back then, if he was still in his original world, or if he was the offshoot timeline or reality or whatever happened when reality manipulation raked across existence.

After awhile , he found his answer.

Things… started to spiral.  
Somewhere along the line, he'd stopped aging. At some point eating had become more habit than necessity, and by Junior year, people started to notice.  
The ghosts that tried to get through the portal were more and more likely to be beyond his ability to handle. He didn't know if it was interference or luck thus far, but the slow scaling ramp-up of enemies (never too powerful to defeat, just difficult) had suddenly been thrown out the window.  
One cataclysmic level attack was enough to decimate a part of the city - killing and injuring far too many people.

No one stepped in to reverse it.

No reality gauntlet.

No "time out"

The sirens kept wailing, people screaming, and the chaos of a city on fire.  
This was it.

His parents (and somewhere along the line, they figured out his secret. It was rocky, but things managed to sort themselves out) decided immediately to pull the plug. Infinite energy for the city was not worth the risks.  
After doing his best to help with cleanup, Danny volunteered to close it from within the ghost zone, the part of him that chirped 'protect!' still feeling the raw burn of failing so completely.  
He could still remember the vivid detail he'd etched into his memory - his mom's tight hug, his dad's shaking hands, the was Jazz whispered 'I love you so much' into the side of his neck, convinced she was sending her little brother away to die.

But! It worked. The swirling portal collapsed in a shockwave of energy, leaving Danny floating listlessly in the emerald depths of shifting space and drifting doorways, watching some of them crumble as the wave continued across the realm like an expanding bubble. Powered ever onward by ectoplasm, it closed all the existing links between this world and Earth.

He had wandered for a long time after that. Past the place Vlad's portal used to be, past Lairs and islands of monsters, and an endless, dark sea of fog where beings greater and more complex than he could comprehend lurked silently, hungrily.  
He wondered how his parents were doing.  
He wondered how the 'original' timeline was doing. How long had it been? Would Clockwork eventually end this timeline, or was it stuck spinning uselessly to its own finale at the end of the universe?  
He didn't know. Exploring the zone didn't yield answers, and his 'enemies' weren't interested in fighting when the prize was out of their grasp. Those who could make portals didn't bother - the world needed a certain level of saturation for them to survive. Amity Park's ectoplasmic contamination had faded in the years after the portal closed. (Had it really been years already?)  
When he finally did learn to tear open the fabric of reality, to step once again into bright blue sky and sprawling city streets, he found Amity Park about the same as he left it.

Except.  
Where FentonWorks once stood, a shop had taken its place. The entire block was different. The internet said it had probably been a gas leak. Reason said it was probably the portal. The explosion wasn't one-sided. He did not appreciate the mirror of another alternate timeline, where his anger and resentment twisted with Vlad's pride and narcissism to create a truly terrifying monster. He couldn't let himself become that. His core still chirped, however weakly; 'protect!'  
There was nothing left for him, but to mourn what was lost or move on and accept this new reality that he had no place in. To maybe, become a hero.

But years had passed, and his friends had grown older while his face remained young. The world had changed. It was too different, and knowing loss had punched a lead weight into the sucking hollow of his chest.

And so, he retreated back to the ageless miasma of the ghost zone.  
And slept, waiting for the end of he world until the thinning ectoplasm of the ghost zone woke him up once more.

-  
(Present)  
-

It was always a bit bewildering to wake up in the Ghost Zone. His memories and dreams always ended up muddled, senses crossed, and it didn't help that Emily liked to wake him up by dropping a pillow on his face.

"Good morning, sunshine~ the earth says 'hello!" Danny grumbled at her chipper wake up call, dragging himself out of bed. Part of him missed the unending stretch of time in the ghost zone, but the people here were creatures of rhythm. It seemed to make them uncomfortable when he acted too inhuman, so he did his best to eat and sleep where they could see it.

Emily's wings shuffled about, tail flicking in a way that told him she was excited about something.  
"Good mor-" "my brother can come!" She interrupted him with a toothy grin, practically bouncing in place.  
"As long as we can pick up his prescription, he agreed to visit to check it out." "That's great to hea-" "do you think we can make this place wheelchair accessible? I know Hart likes multi tiered things, but I don't know how a lift would work, and Steep ramps are awful on his wrists, so I was wondering-"

"Emily."  
She finally paused, giving him her full attention.

"Go ask Haru. I'm sure he'd be happy to adjust the stairs. He's in charge of architecture."

She perked up, calling a 'thanks!' before hopping out the large window Haru had included on her insistence, and flew away.

Danny sat on the edge of his bed, head hanging as he scratched an itch on his shoulder and sorted out his head again. His memories were carefully tucked to the side, his current life and all it's curious complexities laying out in his imagination.

While not yet a "utopia," the space he'd created in the Ghost Zone seemed plenty for the people who already wanted to leave their current lives. The more they explored his little pocket, the more they figured out how to manipulate the space. A few, like Haru, had figured out how to create even more pockets, crafting doors with his creation Quirk (anything made of wood) and linking them to little passageways that led to spaces far bigger than should have fit. He seemed fond of creating modern apartment exteriors and traditional aesthetic interiors, resulting in some… very interesting design choices.

Thankfully, his team obliged most requests if someone wanted something else. Danny, for one, appreciated his little American style apartment. It still ended up with a stained glass skylight somehow, but he kinda liked it.  
Holly had claimed an area as her garden, growing various plants to feed the slowly growing population. They still popped back to Earth occasionally, snagging ingredients for food, or running back to their old house for stuff as Haru's team made apartments and little buildings, cabins. Most of them still nipped out to go to work or visit their friends, but some - like Haru, seemed content to leave their old life behind completely, despite the many inconveniences of living in a half-made 'new world'.

No running water, for one, but Emily (ever the go-lucky recruiter) seemed determined to find someone who could fix that.

He greeted a few people, pulled a few things into existence with the help of the ghost zone's natural willingness to change, and agreed with Haru that as he continued shaping and building this place, he should make sure the paths at least had a pattern, even if it wasn't a rigid grid structure.

Danny scanned the area as he headed back to the one little portal he'd managed to stabilize for everyone, reflecting briefly that it looked like a small city had been half-rendered in a video game. A few people milled about, but the majority was empty, and many places where a normal city would have a building or skyline, there was just empty space fading to green sky.

An enormous fountain stood nearby, bone dry but somehow still elegant with a backdrop of Holly's flowering fruit trees.

Danny checked to make sure he still had the UA library card in his pocket, and stepped through the portal once more.

The earth outside may be different, may be strange and full of painful memories, but there were people now who counted on him.

People he needed to protect. To do that, he needed knowledge. Understanding.

He had some theories to test


	7. Chapter 7

Dreams and old memories still weighing on his mind, Danny took the long way around the city. Cars passed in endless undulating waves of steel and electric humming, the passengers within only faintly registered as real. Pedestrians passed around him, parting briefly without even thinking before sliding back together in an uneven river. Ahead, he spotted the bright blue of a Hero's outfit.

He fingered the plastic card in his pocket, wondering how he should go about something like this. It was an experiment, so… he should have a control, right?

As soon as the Hero was in reasonable eyeshot, he stepped forward, clipping his shoulder against someone and stumbled. Expecting it, he reached out and stopped the other person from falling, quickly apologizing and ducking down to pick up a book that had dropped out of her arms. He kept half an eye on the Hero, but the muscled man didn't even pause to look.

The woman walked off, seemingly unbothered, and Danny planned the next round.

Down a side street this time, he waited for the Hero to approach before walking out, lining his steps up just right so he stepped **through** a casually dressed man. Danny spun around as he heard the yelp, but the man only shivered, turning to look at him with a startled expression.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to - I wasn't watching where I was going, and-"

As if he'd been summoned, the blue-bedecked man was by their side. Even as Danny opened his mouth, the other man cut in for him.

"No, it seemed to be an accident. No harm done. Be careful, young man."

Danny nodded, rubbing the back of his neck as the the guy waved and headed back on his way.

Before he could assume the interaction was over, he felt a large hand settle on his shoulder. There we go.

"Using your Quirk for personal reasons is illegal."

"I know! I know, sorry. It was automatic, I just didn't want to crash into him, so I phased through him instead…"

"Hmmm…"

Danny peeked up through his bangs, taking advantage of the fact he still looked like a skinny teenager, for all that he'd chronologically existed for much longer than that.

The Hero sighed, shaking his head. He patted Danny on the shoulder, and let go.

"Don't do it again, son."

Danny nodded rapidly, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking quickly away. He glanced over his shoulder, finding that the man had watched for a while before finally turning away.

Illegal, but people still had discretion. At least around accidents… or people his age? But what about…

Danny wandered around town, watching the ebb and flow of people going about their daily commute. It always surprised him how many people just walked around the city instead of driving. Almost as much as it surprised him to see how many stores had little signs in their windows, offering discounts to heroes or heroes-in-training.

He tapped his nail against the library card, taking advantage of a store's offer with a flash of the card and sheepish lie that he had misplaced his ID on campus. They still gave him the discount, and Danny walked out, thoughtfully munching an apple.

He paused for a few minutes in front of a storefront, a wall of televisions showing a horde of reporters in front of U.A., talking about some sort of infiltration. Some sort of attack.

A monsterous being appeared on screen, with brains spilling out from an open skull, bulging eyes rolling in its sockets as it was led cautiously by a group of police. A list of other apprehended people slowly scrolled over the screen, and police sketches of suspected criminals involved with the attack quickly followed, and Danny paused, teeth halfway peircing the green fruit.

Blue eyes and black hair stared back at him, his own face painstakingly sketched and colored. The reporter said he was suspected to be in league with the "League of villains" that had broken into the school and attacked the students, leaving several with severe injuries.

An infiltration to gauge the security of the school, the reporter said - an informant to people who wanted to _kill_.

Ice slid over his skin as his visibility slid away, leaving only the floating apple being slowly crunched down. A sucking horror yanked on the area below his heart, a twisting in his gut making his steps heavy as he stepped away from the televisions.

Several people walked through him, shivering as the feeling of his intangibility swept over them like a winter pond.

Danny had enough frame of mind to sidestep a young boy and his mom, knowing children tended to feel the ghostly effect of his powers bit more potently.

Another gasp, and a woman walked through him, shivering and looking about.

She noticed the apple, and confusion turned into a glare.

"Excuse me!" She began. "If you're going to eat, don't stand in the way of people."

He gave her a blank stare, knowing she couldn't see him. His mind was too caught up in the news story to really care. The hand holding his apple slowly fell, fruit only barely clinging in his grasp, and someone's shoulder glanced through his elbow.

"I'm not hurting anyone." He said, voice distant as he strained his ears, trying to find out more from the television's muffled sound.

Her glare sharpened, and she pulled a phone from her purse. Danny heard the beep of a number being dialed, and he shot her a frustrated look, turning on his heel and stalking away.

He listened to her describe what had happened, adding embellishments about how rude he'd been, how he'd insulted her and carried on before Danny finally got fed up enough to phase through the side of a building.

Tennis shoes scuffed the pavement as he wandered down a side street, admiring the bits of houses he could see over the tall fence. Neat homes stood in elegant rows, japanese building aesthetics lacing otherwise modern homes. Whims led him up a series of low walls, easy jumps landing him atop a wall that looked like it'd been re-built recently - part of the bricks clearly newer than the rest of them. Danny plopped down, nibbling the apple core's last bit of meat.

They seriously thought he was a part of that? He would never…

A man hopped down to the wall beside him, and Danny nearly leapt out of his skin. As it was, the apple core bounced to the ground, and he scrabbled sideways away from a wooden mask and faintly glowing eyes.

"It's illegal to use your abilities in public."

Danny almost laughed, hand reaching up to rake through his hair, not expecting the reproachful tone of voice.

Of course a hero wouldn't recognize him - he was invisible! Why would they bother arresting someone they couldn't see? Part of him considered whipping out the U.A. library card - a 'Get out of Jail Free' card, as it were. But- no. He couldn't. Not when his face would be recognizable.

"S-sorry about all that. I wasn't hurting anyone." He felt the need to defend himself, despite the rattled chill holding on in his chest.

The mask tilted slightly, limbs moving in quick, precise movements that reminded him too much of a spider. As if he could either move 100% or 0%, and no smooth in-between leading into motions.

As weird as it sounded, and as many ghosts as he'd met in his past, it still struck him as eerie.

"The law is meant to keep the peace." The voice seemed to soften a little. "Even if you're not hurting someone, it's unfair to others if it's not applied evenly."

For a moment, Danny considered trying to use the forged library card to get out of trouble, but the memory of his face on the screen still shook him. He really didn't want to be apprehended for real. The playful 'Turning himself in' seemed leagues away now.

"I can't stop being invisible." he lied, but the masked man seemed to buy it.

"You sound pretty young." Oh, that's why he was being soft. "So I'll let you off with a warning. If you can, try to find a way to be visible, or just… try not to walk through people, yeah?"

The hero seemed to hesitate, head tilting in a way that Danny somehow knew meant he was trying to remember something.

"Thanks for the advice." He muttered, hopping off the wall and taking flight, leaving the masked man to continue pondering whatever it was he was trying to remember.

The crowds of people in Tokyo shifted around, the murmur of conversation and steady stream of cars lending the city the appearance of a never-ending colony of ants. A complex swarm of individuals somehow moving together as one.

Danny had forgotten the 'test' he had been trying to do, still sick to his stomach. Even as he portaled back to the space in the Ghost Zone, and Emily greeted him cheerfully, the feeling remained.

He felt…

Alone.


	8. Chapter 8

"And so I said, 'there's no way you could fit an entire melon in your mouth' and that idiot just crammed the whole thing in!"

"Ehhhh?!"

"I know, _Right?_ So I was like 'You spit that out right now, or you'll break your stupid jaw' but he just kept trying to chew - tears streaming down his face, and- Hagakure-chan?"

Ashido paused in her story, antennae twitching slightly as she realized her invisible friend wasn't just leaning back, but had been looking elsewhere.

"E-Eh? Oh! Sorry!" From the movement of her glove, Toru seemed to be rubbing her neck apologetically, and leaned back in. "Sorry, you were saying Kirishima-san had been choking?"

Ashido glanced toward the empty field her friend had apparently been looking towards, finding nothing of interest. Just as she opened her mouth to start again, Toru interrupted her.

"I think- I think I forgot something in the classroom, I've got to go, be right back!" Hagakure Toru stood up, patted off her knees, and started jogging toward the school building.

Tsuyu tilted her head, a small noise of curiosity bubbling in the back of her throat. Ashido sighed, shrugging it off.

"I think she's heard this one before, anyway. So!" Tsuyu shuffled her feet, knees just about around her ears as she perched on the fence beside the pink girl. "As I was saying…"

Toru slowed her jog as she approached the boy. Alarm bells were still chiming in the back of her head - she knew his breach of security was supposed to be super serious, but it was… difficult, taking all that seriously when all she ever saw him do was help her take photos and play harmless pranks on students. All he'd ever been was kind to her.

"You're not supposed to be here, you know."

He jumped a little, looking up in surprise from the book he was reading.

"Oh, hello there." He closed the book, glancing down at her hands. "Did you want another photo?"

"Ah- No thank you." She bowed a little out of habit, before twisting her hands together anxiously.

"The Principle said to report you if anyone saw you again." His face fell a little and she hurried to continue "I'm not going to report you!" Even as she blurted the words, she wondered 'why not?' "I just… wanted to get to know you better. I don't think you were actually part of the invasion that got everyone hurt…. were you?"

He gave her a small smile, tucking the book between his knees to offer his hand to shake.

"Thanks for not turning me in. I _definitely_ was not a part of that. Sorry, I forgot your name. My name's Danny."

"Mine's Hagakure Toru." He mirrored her little head nod as she shook his hand, and watched her sit down.

"What are you reading?"

Danny blinked, picking up the book to tilt the cover toward her.

"Criminal Law: Cases, Statutes, and Lawyering Strategies" He read aloud. "Kinda dry, but still interesting. It's…. Strange, for me, living here."

"Did you come from somewhere else? You sound American."

An amused smile twitched the corner of his mouth. "Do I really?"

She nodded, and he sighed, flipping it open to a chapter on 'Unlawful Use of Quirks' "I know this sounds weird, but where I'm from, Quirks weren't even… a thing. Like, there weren't laws about them at all."

"What, really?" "Mmhmm. It's really weird, being around so many people with powers. And now I'm apparently a criminal, because I used my powers in public too much. It just… feels wrong, to not do it, you know?"

Toru was silent for a few beats, and Danny sighed, focusing back on his reading.

"How are you doing that?"

"Hm?" Danny looked back up, already forgetting the sentance he just read for the third time.

"The… invisibility thing. I know it's part of your quirk, but… how are you making other things invisible as well?" reading

Danny tilted his head, thinking. He reached toward her, and for a moment she leaned away slightly, thinking he was trying to touch her face. Then- "ow!"

"Sorry, here, look."

He presented his hand, fingers delicately pinching a transparent thread. She rubbed her scalp, realizing he'd pulled out one of her hairs. Just like that, the hair bled to black, and Danny pulled it tight between two fingers.

"As soon as you think it's not a part of you anymore, it becomes visible."

She blinked, nodding. She'd known that for a while - while she couldn't actually see herself in a mirror, she could still cut her own hair by feel. Cut her fingernails so they weren't so awfully long.

"So, how does it know when to become visible?" He asked, turning it over in his hand. "And why can't people see the food you're chewing?"

"Well, it's inside me, isn't it?"

"If it was just because it was behind your skin, wouldn't that mean I couldn't see the inside of your gloves?"

Toru looked down, tilting her hands around to look at the inside of her gloves through the translucent mist of her skin.

"I guess…" She added, doubtfully.

"I think…" When she looked up, Danny was staring at her strangely, and she couldn't help but look away.

"I think your invisibility relies on your sense of 'self'." he stated with finality. "That once you see something as completely 'You' then your powers shift to include it in the invisibility. Your hair is 'you', and once you consume something, it's 'you' and the bits of dead skin clinging to your live skin aren't technically connected, but they're still 'you', right? That's why there's no halo of dead skin and dead hair. You have to realize it's not 'you' anymore before it becomes visible again."

She peered at him, frowning a little.

"Is that how your invisibility works?"

"Maybe you should try changing how you see yourself, to include the clothes?" Ah. He avoided the question.

"It's a bit risky for you to be totally defenseless when you're trying to be fully invisible - Plus, it's not always nice weather out. I'd hate for you to get hypothermia."

Toru hummed, reaching up to comb her fingers through her hair. She pulled free a strand, rolling the delicate thing between her fingers as it slid into color.

When she looked up, he was walking away.

"H-Hey! You never answered my question!"

He glanced over his shoulder, but kept walking. Toru jumped up and trotted after him.

"You never told me if your Quirk works the same as mine. Or if…"

"I do think they're similar." He shot her a small smile. "But, I think everyone's manifests a bit differently, so what I'm doing probably isn't always going to be what other people are doing."

Toru kept twisting the hair between her fingers, keeping pace beside him. Danny absently stepped sideways as a blonde boy walked past them, but Toru caught the contemplative glint in red eyes.

"So, were you going to follow me all the way to the Library, or do I have to-!" _KTCHHHHTHCH!_

Toru yelped, covering her face as light and heat washed over her, spots dancing in her eyes.

"OY! BASTARD!" Katsuki's snarl was recognizable anywhere. Craaaap, did he realize?

When she blinked her eyes open again, Danny had remained invisible, but his footsteps left faint scuffs in the ashy residue Katsuki's explosive palms left.

Sparks danced around the boy's hands, pale hair bristling up angrily.

"You're the invisible creep that set the alarms off, aren't you?"

Danny visibly deflated, eyeing the light show with a bit of wariness.

"I'm on my way out." He argued, and then darted sideways when the other boy lunged at him, an explosion pressing through the hallway. Danny pulled the borrowed book closer to his chest, frowning at the overzealous student.

"Doesn't fucking look like you're on your way out. Maybe I have to kick your ass first."

"Are you serious right now?"

Katsuki raised his palms, baring his teeth, somehow knowing exactly where to point his glare.

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

"Oh geeze-" Danny turned on his heel, sprinting away. Katsuki hesitated, looking surprised before he took up the chase, hollering after him loud enough to wake the dead.

Toru watched them both go, twisting the stray hair anxiously. With all that racket, they'd probably attract some… unwanted attention.

Danny let the other teen chase him until they were outside again, flickering visible somewhere along the way after Katsuki went barreling down the wrong hallway, sparks still flying. Out of sheer concern for the integrity of the building with such a hothead demolition type on the loose, he made himself bait again.

And so, there they were. Danny using a bit of flight to keep his strides long and light, and the furious student dodging after him through narrow hallways, scorching tiles and walls every once in a while to rocket - literally! - after him. Leaping off an open sided stairwell into the grounds outside, the kid cackled behind him in triumph, apparently seeing that as his victory.

Sure enough, the explosions increased in magnitude, speed increasing along with it. With a bit of grudging respect, he realized the kid had been keeping it toned down indoors. Still, it was frustrating to try to dodge around the explosive blasts without actually lashing out in return. Hard to keep his feet steady and on the ground, when every part of him wanted to just fly.

Maybe his body language said it, or perhaps his steps faltered a bit too much, but between one second and the next, the wild-haired kid had ducked down, kicking his legs out from under him.

Danny yelped, flailed, and gargled a bit when a strong arm looped around his neck, wrenching his head back rather painfully as a sparking palm was held to his face.

"Now. You're going to wait here, or I'm going to blow your fucking face off. Got it?"

Wait here…?

Oh! He must have contacted the authorities. Or… perhaps knew someone else had.

Huh.

Pretty clever for something he assumed was just a hotheaded powerhouse. Good eye for weakness as well, to exploit his unsteadiness on land.

Before saying anything clever (he'd gotten hurt WAY too much from mouthing off too early) Danny phased through the boy's grip, sliding up through his body to hover above the ground.

"Yeah, Sorry, that was kinda uncomfortable. I'm not into that sort of thing."

A massive explosion ripped across the grounds, heat fizzling along his senses even through the intangibility. The kid lowered his palms, a faint widening of his eyes the only surprise he showed before racing back at him, an explosion ripping through the place where his leg would have been. Well, technically where it WAS, but he didn't have enough physical mass at the moment for it to do anything.

The teen backed off a beat, frowning at him.

"What the hell?" He muttered, and Danny grinned sheepishly. He could already hear sirens approaching,

"Well, it's been fun. Sorry I couldn't hang around lon-urk-" Without warning, Danny collapsed to the ground, core feeling like it'd been squeezed through a tight tube. His body screamed at him, heat and pain and kinetic pressure flinging the poor fleshy thing across the ground into a singed heap. The kid's explosion actually landed. That feeling - the power-smusher guy with the weird name. Scarf man.

"Ohhhhh shit oh shit oh shit." It hurt to _breathe_. He dragged himself to his knees and elbows, head hanging as he raggedly gasped for air. His skin stiung, and he could hear the scuff of shoes approaching from several direction.

"That hurt." He croaked, waving a hand toward the kid and trying (and failing) to summon a shield. He heard a spark, and knew another explosion would be coming soon. God, his human body was so _weak_. Squishy and fragile and - The squeeze relented for just a moment, and Danny flickered into invisibility, sinking as fast as he could into the ground to recouperate.

Cold, dark earth swallowed him up, pressing around and inside him, smothering the light of his transformation. Quickly, the pain started to bleed away, ectoplasm humming through his viens and soothing his form into something that was his 'reflection of self' instead of a body made of real blood and bones.

The back of his head whispered 'Fight!' in a too-familiar tone. Eager, restless, the little urge of his ghostly half. Danny shrugged it off, not even daring to peek his head up out of the ground in case the creepy eye guy somehow managed to cancel his intangibility while he was still submerged.

Danny rolled his shoulders, and kept himself as low-profile as he could get as he zipped off back into the city.

 **AN: HateReborn27 asked "how was bakugo able to see him?" - The answer? He wasn't. Bakugou is a smart cookie, for all his cocky snarling. They recently had the school shut down because of an invisible intruder. Due to their similar Quirks, and because Toru was "seen" interacting with the invisible intruder, some rumours had been flying. Bakugou heard an extra invisible person walking and talking to her. Danny hadn't exactly kept his voice down. So, that's how he knew Danny was there. =)**

 **A huge THANK YOU! to everyone who has been reviewing =) Seriously, it makes my heart glow with joy every time I get to read a new review, even if it's something like 'I like this'**


	9. Chapter 9

Emily's brother was coming.

It was hard not to know, for all she chirped about it and bounced around like an excited puppy.

She'd prodded Hart and Haru into modifying most of the buildings to be wheelchair accessible, ignoring Danny's reminder that everyone could _literally_ fly in the ghost zone, if they wanted. Gravity was still optional.

Well, 'Mentally imposed' was more like it. You'd sink if you thought you ought to sink. With all the buildings and streets spiderwebbing out, it was becoming easier to automatically fall to the ground.

So, Danny helped with a few more details, opening up a deep pocket that someone was apparently going to fill up with water. He wasn't sure he wanted to know where they were getting that much of it, but wells had to be made. It was going to be a city, after all.

His phone beeped, letting him know it was nearing noon and time to eat.

People broke for lunch on their own time, many of them picking from Holly's gardens or from the food others had brought in from their homes.

The ones who were jumping between worlds, not quite giving up on either.

Danny hadn't even realized they'd arrived until Emily was blowing smoke over his shoulder, chuckling under her breath.

He greeted them cheerfully, glad to meet the person his friend was clearly deeply fond of. Joshua shook his hand with a small smile, his body looking frail and pale in his overlarge sweater and too-thin skinny jeans. But, his blonde hair had been brushed, nails neatly filed, and he kept applying medicinal chapstick over deeply cracked lips in a motion that seemed like a well-worn habit.

They shared a small meal, Danny going through the motions of eating for the sake of appearances more than any real hunger. With the ectoplasm so thick in the air, his own hunger was sated so long as he stayed in his Lair. Convenient, that. He just had to worry about everyone else.

Emily was called away to help, and she nervously told the two of them to make friends and play nice. Joshua laughed, waving her off.

He and Danny stood for a moment to watch her fly off, swooping between buildings and up over unlit lamp posts Danny was sure were for aesthetics instead of practicality.

"So." He turned when Joshua spoke. "Emily tells me you met her after she robbed a bank?"

There was a beat between them, and Danny had to look away quickly to snort the laughter into his arm instead of on the young man's shoulder.

"Ha. Yeah, I guess I did. She started this whole idea, y'know." He gestured to the strange city, falling into step as Joshua started wheeling himself down the street.

"That does sound like her."

The two of them made small talk for a few minutes, wandering down streets until Joshua found one he wanted to peek inside of - one wall covered in dark red grape leaves, the other made of fogged glass.

Danny obliged, and the two of them wandered around the bottom floor, managing the stairs after Joshua had been thoroughly convinced that he really ought to be able to fly inside the ghost zone. Or rather, in the Utopia, as everyone kept calling it. His first attempt wasn't exactly a flight, but wobbly floating was effective enough.

They ended up on the flat roof, Danny collapsing into an ironwork style chair as Joshua looked out over the few blocks they'd created - considering the green void beyond.

"Emily… really wanted me to come here. Said it was an escape from the world."

Danny hummed.

"I suppose it could be that. It's got a bit of work to go, yet."

He watched Josh tug at a slightly curled lock of hair, the hand wandering to his own mouth to absently pick at the chapped skin.

"Did she tell you why I'm like this?" He waved his hand generally at himself, and Danny shook his head 'no.'

"Wheelchair, constant pain, limited dexterity-" He ticked the points on one hand, and Danny realized the other had yet to come uncurled from a loose fist. "I know this is probably TMI, but I wanted to-" Joshua exhaled an impatient breath, fingers curling back up to pick at his lip. "My pain is, in a sense, psychosomatic. That is, my nerves aren't actually damaged, or sending pain signals. I'm numb from the waist down, But... "

He winced, pulling his thumb back from his lip. A tiny smear of blood was casually rubbed off the pad, and Joshua sucked on his lower lip for a moment.

"Don't tell Emily." He warned, and Danny nodded, wondering if he meant the blood or if he was going to learn something new. The young man looked out over the strangely colored buildings sprawled before them, and the people chatting in groups, or jogging for a task. Emily looked like she was trying to help Hart carry in a real-world couch, the two of them clearly yelling at each other over the black leather. Joshua exhaled slowly, and tilted to lean his chin on his palm.

"She was the one who had been crushed by rubble, trying to stop it from falling on a kid. He was maybe in middle school." Danny could see the gloved hand in his lap was trembling, but didn't comment.

"I watched her dive in, a stone hit my head, and I woke up to find her...like that. Trapped. She was unconscious, I was bleeding and delirious, and a Pro Hero only stopped to dig them out before running off again, telling me to wait for EMS to arrive. Kid was bruised, had a broken wrist, crying, while she was-" He paused to suck on his lower lip again, staring at a point in the distance. "Her wings had been completely crushed. Spine fractured in several spots, hand crushed, organs bruised." He seemed to sense Danny staring at him, and met his eyes only briefly before looking away again. He tugged one of his gloves off, showing a dense network of knotted scars.

"You've probably guessed my Quirk, huh? It's registered as 'Wound Exchange.' I can trade the current state of my body for someone else's." Danny felt his eyebrows raise. Josh's lips quirked into something frustrated, and repeated himself.

"The kid had a sprained wrist. Emily had been all but killed, and I knew I was dying. Could feel-" A strained sigh paused his mumbled words, eyes watching his knees as his gloved hands made a gesture of something coming out of his head.

"So I… exchanged. My cracked skull for the kid's wrist, then Emily's damage for his. It was… so relieving, to see her with wings again. I can't even describe it.

She got to walk out and get a job, and I get to live with doctors telling me that my pain isn't _real,_ because I've never had wings, so I shouldn't be able to feel them crushed, right?" He shifted his shoulder slightly, the jerky movement only drawing Danny's attention to how stiffly Joshua held himself.

"The kid ended up dying?" Pale blonde hair bobbed with the short nod, a small sweep gesturing to himself.

"I don't know what 'Utopia' you're trying to build, but I don't think I'm the kind of person you want in it. Involuntary - or intentional, if I'm being honest with myself... Manslaughter isn't exactly something you can just leave behind." He ran his thumb over his lip again, nail catching on a scab. "And now she sees me as a hero who Pro Heroes failed to save, and is running off on this huge crusade against them, when I'm the one she should hate."

Danny watched him pick angrily at his lip again, turning the story over in his head. Saved his sister, killed a kid. How often had Danny been forced to make such an impossible choice?

But… why would he even tell all this? From the way his hands were still shaking minutely, it seemed like the truth was a pretty big secret. Danny briefly wondered if he'd told anyone else. Emily still acted like he was a saint. Maybe a doctor? Or a church somewhere. Not a judge, or he'd not be so loosely guarded in an apartment.

Danny created a small rock from ectoplasm in his palm, whipping his arm and flinging it to bounce across the rooftop with a tiny clatter like snapping teeth. Skipping stones in thought just seemed the thing to do, sometimes. He brushed his hand off and looked up at the emerald sky.

"Are you telling me this to try to find forgiveness?"

"Well, you seem to have all the answers. What do you think I deserve?"

He looked over at the young man, absently wondering if Emily would look anything like him if she wasn't so dragonish. Maybe her amber eyes were part of the mutation, and she would have otherwise had his dark brown irises set behind pale eyelashes. Who could know?

"I'm not the one who can decide that."

He watched Joshua's face twist unhappily, nail slipping and jabbing against his gums. Danny winced in sympathy, but the kid just tongued the spot, lips kissing the knuckles of his own fist. Joshua looked away from him, and he sighed.

"Do you… regret what you did?"

"No."

The soft word was quick on the heels of his question, and when Danny hummed, Joshua shut his eyes.

"Emily is alive, so no. I don't regret it. Sympathize with his family's loss, yes. Would I have done anything different in the same circumstances?" The hypothetical question was left unanswered, but the invisible 'No' pressed over both their heads.

"Like I said, thank you for inviting me to visit, but… I don't think I belong here."

Danny stood, watching Joshua offer him a strained, false smile as he unlatched the brake to wheel himself out, spine still held in a tight, rigid line a few inches off the backrest. His own shoulders ached just looking at it.

"Joshua-" The young man paused, turning his head slightly to show he was listening. Danny took a breath, gathering up the words he'd asked every Quirk user. The question behind an invitation.

"Do you want to use your quirk freely? Are you happy as you are?"

A beat of silence. Dark eyes met green.

"Emily's sister is going to check in at my apartment soon; I should get back home."

Joshua continued toward the door, the question technically unanswered, yet-

He mulled the conversation over in his head, leaning a bit forward to watch Joshua eventually roll out below, Emily's tail lashing excitedly as she flapped over to ask how it went. He couldn't hear their conversation from where he sat, but he could see her wings droop, tail stilling. She looked his way and Danny tried to keep his expression smooth.

After a few minutes, Joshua was headed out the portal, Emily close behind.

He let himself get lost in watching the slow bustle of people below, only half aware of a woman duplicating food and raw materials with a touch. Eyes tracing over the first hopeful spurts of water in the fountain Hart insisted on installing. He'd wanted this place to be welcoming.

To look like a true Utopia.

What was he even creating, if people felt themselves unworthy of joining? Surely, he hadn't put out that kind of vibe, so… was it just rumors?

"Phantom."

He startled in a sharp inhale and a small twitch, turning to find Holly standing in his doorway.

"Ah, Hello - Sorry, I was lost in my own thoughts." He stood up, brushing nonexistent dust off his knees. "Can I help you?"

Her face was serene as ever, the dark thistles of her hair a bit more neat than usual.

"I wanted to know if you'd granted my request."

He stared for a moment, puzzled, before the memory flooded back.

"Right! Yes, I have it. Sorry it took so long, I've been using it to rent books out of the U.A. library."

She hummed, watching him pull out a flat card, offering it to her. She took it with both hands, bowing just slightly.

"And did you find what you were looking for?" He huffed, scratching the back of his neck.

"Aah, sorta. Things aren't quite as bad as Emily made it out to be, but it's still a big mess in the real world. This sorta place does seem necessary."

She tucked the card into her own pocket, clasping her hands behind her back to listen. There was still growing pains - they still needed plumbing, water, electricity. Surely there were adults and quirks that could help with that. Engineers who happened to want to leave. He wouldn't steal anyone who didn't want to come.

What if they couldn't find anyone? Could they just rely on Danny's manipulation of ectoplasm to survive? The Ghost Zone's slowing of hunger and thirst wasn't infinite. They still needed to eat, and as the population grew, they'd need more sources of food.

Would duplication work indefinitely? What if that person decided she'd rather not do that forever? What if her ghost was satisfied, and her human side wanted to leave? How far could he rely on people's restless Quirks to get them to help?

At what point would they need more than just freedom?

"A necessary Utopia?"

He glanced up at her, trying to force the smile back on his face at the prompt.

"Yeah, I just- thinking about logistics, I guess."

She nodded, considering him for a moment.

"From some of the stories, you're able to turn others invisible? Fly?"

He blinked, nodding mutely. She nodded back, taking a slow breath and seeming to steel herself for something.

"Then, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask one more boon of you."

"Of course." The words were offered immediately, Holly's touch with plants creating lush gardens on the edge of their little city, Quirk-grown fruiting trees deeply established and thriving in the ecto-rich environment.

"Then, I'd like you to help get me into U.A, tomorrow. There's someone important I'd like to talk to."

He nodded, head already lost back into the details of trying to _create_ an entire city.

She left with a small bow, and silence.


	10. Thanks

Reasons I wish FF was more like AO3:

1) you can actually leave chapter and story notes discretely, making it easier to let readers know that you're posting entirely for fun, and aren't terribly concerned with canon compliance, continuity, plot progression, pacing, or many other thimgs that make a detail-oriented finished chapter.

2) you can delete comments, so if someone (or several people) write a thesis in the review section about how you're not getting canon details right, or saying you're a bad writer and should feel bad, you can casually delete them so you don't have to see them every bloody time you go to check that story. (You know who you are)

...2.1) To the people who say you can delete FF comments - No, you can't. You can delete anonymous reviews, but anyone who logs in to leave a comment, that comment cannot be deleted unless it's flagged for abuse of FF terms + taken down by the site's moderation team. Ripping into a story and being rude isn't actually against the rules.

3) Thanks to the reviews and several PMs from apparently outraged readers who were personally offended that I wasn't being canon compliant and decided I needed to be browbeaten thus, this story and my interest for writing this story is very likely dead. Hooray~ -_- One-off negativity isn't so bad, I can ignore that easily, but several days of being nagged about it by various people all telling me I'm terrible in different ways... it gets old, fast.

4) Don't worry, I'm still working on other stories. I'm not leaving FF, but AO3 has been my main + most active story hosting place, so if you want to talk with me more or see story updates immediately, AO3 is your best bet anyway. I like their tagging system, I like their message and comment system, and it's easier to use in general.

5) And finally: Please remember that demanding updates is counterproductive. It's one thing to say "I like this story, I'm looking forward to an update!" and quite another to send message after message "Hey you should update. When are you updating? Why haven't you updated? Update now!" - Some people can't or don't dedicate themselves to a posting schedule. To the people who do have one: Totes respect, but I can't do that.

Remember folks; try not to be a jerk!


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